In a dramatic turn of events in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, Nick Cassidy missed a great opportunity to extend his lead in the Formula E World Championship. While his teammate Mitch Evans initially crossed the finish line in first place, a penalty for contact with McLaren’s Jake Hughes caused Evans to drop to eighth place. This allowed Antonio Felix da Costa to secure his third victory in four races. However, Porsche also faced disappointment as da Costa’s teammate Pascal Wehrlein only managed a tenth place, earning just one point compared to Cassidy.
Cassidy had been delivering an impressive display of economical driving, starting from 13th place and quickly moving ahead of the pack. He managed to fend off da Costa and was leading the race against Evans when disaster struck on the penultimate lap. Cassidy went off track at the chicane of Turn 10/11, causing him to slide on the grass and spin, finishing in 19th place.
Evans, who considered the penalty unfair, saw his hopes of victory dashed as he crossed the finish line. In a matter of minutes, da Costa went from third place to first, with a Jaguar one-two turning into a victory for the Portuguese driver. Hughes, involved in the incident with Evans, suffered a punctured tire and ended up in 21st place, a lap behind the leaders.
Robin Frijns, driving for the Jaguar customer team Envision, secured second place, followed by Jean-Eric Vergne of DS Penke in third. Edoardo Mortara achieved his best result of the season for Mahindra, finishing in fourth place. Defending champion Jake Dennis came in sixth for Andretti, with Abt Cupra driver Nico Mueller finishing ahead of him in fifth.
Wehrlein’s strategy of delaying his activations of the attack mode seems to have backfired, as he was unable to progress from his starting position in tenth place once the pace of the race picked up in the final laps. He is also under investigation for a collision that ended the race for Maserati driver Maximilian Guenther. Despite Cassidy’s mistake, Wehrlein is still 24 points behind him in the championship standings.
Norman Nato, Jake Dennis’ teammate at Andretti, showed impressive speed in qualifying but was penalized with a 10-place grid penalty due to a yellow flag infringement during the final practice. Starting from 11th place, Nato quickly made his way to the front of the pack, only to sacrifice his position with a long and inefficient stint in the lead in terms of energy. He ended up finishing in 13th place.
